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EJCHS FFA MEMBERS EXCEL A number of East Jackson Comprehensive High School FFA members earned awards and recognition at state and district events: Pages 11-12A SHARKS AT STATE 22 Commerce Tiger Sharks qualify for the state swim meet July 24: Page IB Vol. 134 No. 22 24 Pages 2 Sections www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com Commerce Slews Wednesday JULY 15, 2009 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 City Students Fare Well OnCRCT Commerce students improved their passing rates on the state CRCT exams in 23 of 32 catego ries in 2009. The Georgia Department of Education recently released the results of the spring tests in grades 1-8. The Criterion- Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) measures how well students acquire the skills and knowledge outlined in the state’s curriculum, known as the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). Commerce students made the most improve ment in math, with each grade faring better than the same grade the previ ous year. In the third grade, for example, 8.7 percent failed the math portion of the test on their first try, down from 25 percent the previous year. Fourth graders failed at a rate of Please Turn to Page 5A cmm THURSDAY, JULY 16 Scattered T-storms: Low, 69; high, 80; 60% chance rain FRIDAY, JULY 17 A Scattered T-storms: Low, 68; high, 87; 40% chance rain SATURDAY, JULY 18 A Isolated T-storms, Low, 63; high, 86; 30% chance rain SUNDAY, JULY 19 Isolated T-storms, Low, 64; high, 85; 30% chance rain Precipitation this month .46 inches Precipitation This Year 26.56 Inches INDEX Births 3B Church News 6B Classified Ads 7-9B Calendar 3A Crime News 6A News Roundup 2A Obituaries 4-5B Opinions 4A School News .... 1 1-1 2A Sports 1-2B Social News 3B Shrinking Property Values? Jackson, Commerce Tax Digests Increase In Spite Of Recession By Mark Beardsley If the housing bust and attendant recession lowered property values, the word hasn’t gotten to Jackson County yet. The county’s preliminary tax digest shows a 1.3-per cent growth in value. The digest is the basis for prop erty taxation. The spartan growth is bad news for governments that rely on increases in the tax able value of property to bring in more money each year, but it’s also bad news for taxpayers who expected to pay less in property taxes this year because their hous es and land are worth less. In many areas of Georgia, housing prices have fallen 25 percent or more, but tax digests largely do not reflect that market truth. More than 500 Jackson County taxpayers aren’t buying the official version of their property’s value and have filed appeals. Should the appeals be successful, it is not out of the question that the tax digest could shrink, something that has not happened since the Great Depression. In Commerce, the pre liminary digest shows a 4.5-percent growth over 2008, according to Steve McKown, the city’s finance director. That’s something of a relief for someone who tries to find the money to fund a city budget each year. “If we leave the 1.5- mill tax rate, we’ll collect 12,000 more dollars,’’ said McKown, who termed the revenue growth as “flat.’’ “I would call it flat,’’ he explained. 'There are some changes, but there are other changes in the digest that cancel them out.’’ Any successful appeals Cont. on Page 3A Prolific Donors Honored With its community blood drive Tuesday at the First Baptist Church of Commerce, the American Red Cross paid tribute to some of its high-volume donors. Technician Dominic Overton bandages the arm of Cheryl Leuthner, who has given more than seven gallons of blood. Photo by Mark Beardsley Decision Due Soon On Reservoir Site By Mark Beardsley The data has been collect ed and its analysis is under way. Jackson County offi cials could begin the task in September of selecting one of three Nicholson area sites for a future coun ty reservoir. “All of the environmen tal and geotechnical data has been collected,’’ engi neer Richard Cheek told the Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority Thursday night. “We are evaluating it and plan to present a draft report to the authority by mid-Sep tember.’’ Data collection has taken almost a year as some own ers of land affected by the three sites were hesitant to allow engineers or sur veyors onto their property, but the work was finally completed last month. Cheek, who works for Prime Engineering, said that the draft report is not likely to include a recom mendation as to which of the three sites is best suited for a reservoir. “We will probably end up coming up with a selection matrix with all of the com ponents that need to be taken into consideration,’’ he explained. Those components will include cost, the number of property owners affected, permitting issues (includ ing wetlands mitigation), water quality and yield — among others. “We will evaluate each of these and indicate in a matrix form how each of the sites compares with the others,’’ Cheek said. While the water and sew erage authority is the lead agency under which the analysis is being done, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners is funding the study and will likely — with input from the author ity — make the final deci sion as to which site is selected. The sites are all locat ed in the vicinity of Nicholson. The largest is along Little Curry Creek Cont. on Page 3A Meeting Budget Unlikely For Commerce Gas Fund New Report Cards Come Under Fire But City BOE Sticks With Plan To Implement In Grades 3-4 By Ben Munro The decision to move forth with new report cards at Commerce Elementary School drew a rare split vote from the Commerce Board of Education. After much discussion, the board voted 4-1 to implement “standards- based’’ report cards for grades 3-4 for the next two school years. Grades K-2 already use the new progress reports. Rodney Gary voted against the move. Standards-based report cards lack the traditional A-F grading system, but pro vide better details about a child’s knowledge, accord ing to some educators. “There’s no doubt that it’s a better information report card,’’ superintendent James “Mac’’ McCoy said. A standards-based report card makes the following assessments: exceeds stan dards (E), meets standards (M), progressing towards standards (P) and lacks standards (L). Cont. on Page 5A By Mark Beardsley Two weeks into his new budget, Commerce Gas Department superinten dent Jim Eubanks figures his department is already $400,000 behind. That’s a figure not likely to be made up barring some sort of major (and unexpected) development during the remaining 50 weeks of the city’s fiscal year. “Last year I budgeted about $7 million (to pur chase) gas. This year I bud geted about $2.5 million,’’ explained Eubanks. The Gas Department for years has been the city’s profit center among its utility funds. Historically, officials have been able to transfer as much as $850,000 out of that fund into the General Fund to finance departments from police to recreation to the library. Then the housing bust hit. Louisiana Pacific, the city’s biggest gas customer, slowed production, then closed. Huber Engineered Woods, the second-largest customer, cut its usage by 60 percent. During the peak of the housing boom, LP alone was earning the city about $500,000 a year in profits, Eubanks said. By the time it closed, the city’s profit on LP gas use was down to $175,000 to $200,000. “That’s just an indica tor of how much the load has dropped off in recent years,’’ said Eubanks. “Almost all of that is the large industrial loads. The commercial and residen- Cont. on Page 3A